Pride and Joy help

RustPuppet

I've been getting into the blues a whole lot lately, and I'm aiming to learn as many different styles and techniques as I can. Currently, I'm setting myself the goal of getting Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy" down to at least an identifiable level on my acoustic.

This is the basic tab for the main riff I'm working with:

E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E e E E E E E E
|---!0---!-0----!0---!0-|---!0---!-0----!0-2-0-|-0-0---!0---!0---!0-|
|---!0---!-0----!0---!0-|---!0---!-0----!0-2-0-|-0-0---!0---!0---!0-|
|---!0---!-0----!0---!0-|---!0---!-0----!0-2-0-|-1-----!0---!0---!0-|
|--------!(0)-----------|-2------!(0)----------|-2------------------|
|--------!(0)-2----4----|--------!(0)-2--------|-2--------2----4----|
|-0----3h!-4------------|------3h!-4-----------|-0---3h!4-----------|

The problem I'm having is with getting that shuffle vibe with the mutes and upstrokes. I think I'm supposed to be muting with my left hand across all strings after the quick upstrokes on the first three strings, but it's just not sounding right to me. I know the electric version uses that type of mute, but when Stevie plays it acoustic he seems to be playing a lot of open strings; when I do it exactly according to the above tab though i.e. without muting, it seems to lose the shuffle feel.

I know that's not the best explanation of how I'm playing it, but can anyone give me a better idea of how to get this right? Thanks in advance!

Oh, and if you haven't heard this unplugged, watch Stevie killing it on his 12-string:

AlanRatcliffe

This is a good example of the rhythm being more important than the notes.

Shuffle isn't the most natural feel (unless you've grown up on it), but it's the most important aspect of this piece of music - you can get notes wrong, add in open strings where there shouldn't be (like SRV does), but as long as you hold down the rhythm, you're OK.

So spend a lot of time practising the rhythm and nothing but the rhythm - mute the strings with you're left hand and play along with the right as if you were a percussionist, work at getting not just the beats in the right places, but at getting the accents where they should be too. (Wax on, wax off... ?)

Once you can do that in your sleep, learn the notes and it will start coming together very quickly.

Gearhead

I have seen this SRV vid many a time and I still have no clue what's going on... but love every second of it. Wow.

studmissile

Nicely put Alan.

I use a Hybrid Picking, or (Alternate Bass Picking), pick between my thumb and index, and my remaining three fingers pick the first three strings. A very Country way of picking, but gets all your fingers working and gives you greater control over that rhythm.

Start off slow and speed up.

I also read once that SRV would reverse the natural approach to this shuffle namely an upstroke for the bass notes and down stroke for the open string chords.

AlanRatcliffe

studmissile wrote: A very Country way of picking

Jimmy Page too!

slyd

Oh so cool! ?

singemonkey

Youtube is your friend. You'll find a great many vids explaining how this technique is done, broken down slowly. Also watch how SRV moves his hand as he plays it. I found that emulating that motion helped me establish that rhythm.

I think there's a good lesson on this by Arlen Roth on Gibson.com. Have a look.

RustPuppet

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:Shuffle isn't the most natural feel (unless you've grown up on it), but it's the most important aspect of this piece of music - you can get notes wrong, add in open strings where there shouldn't be (like SRV does), but as long as you hold down the rhythm, you're OK.

So spend a lot of time practising the rhythm and nothing but the rhythm - mute the strings with you're left hand and play along with the right as if you were a percussionist, work at getting not just the beats in the right places, but at getting the accents where they should be too.

That seems to have helped me immensely. Once you take your mind off what notes you're hitting and focus on the rhythm, the shuffle sound starts coming through properly (albeit a bit messily at the moment).

singemonkey wrote: Youtube is your friend. You'll find a great many vids explaining how this technique is done, broken down slowly. Also watch how SRV moves his hand as he plays it. I found that emulating that motion helped me establish that rhythm.

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on this, but none really explain how to get the feel right. I'm downloading that video from Gibson as we speak though, thanks!